Novak Djokovic advanced into his record-tying 13th semifinal Wimbledon after Alex de Minaur of Australia withdrew due to a hip injury on Wednesday.
Scheduled to face Djokovic on the quarterfinals, de Minaur admitted that he injured his hip in the closing stages of his 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 win over Arthur Fils in the fourth round on Monday. After attempting to warm up for less than eight minutes early in the day, de Minaur notified Wimbledon officials and Djokovic’s camp he would be unable to recover in time to challenge the second-seeded Djokovic.
“I’m devastated, but I had to pull out due to a hip injury, a little tear of the fiber cartilage that is at the end to the adductor,” de Minaur said. “I felt a loud crack during the last three points of my match against Fils and got a scan yesterday and it confirms that this was the injury. (There is) a high risk of making it worse if I was to step on court.”
With the win, Djokovic is tied with Roger Federer for the most Wimbledon semifinal appearances by a man in tournament history. The 37-year-old Djokovic will square off against the winner of Wednesday’s other match, 13th-seeded Taylor Fritz versus 25th-seeded Lorenzo Musetti of Italy.
As for de Minaur, he said he was at peace with his decision despite the chance to defeat Djokovic for the second time this year.
“It’s no secret that, at this stage of my career, this was the biggest match of my career. So wanted to do anything I could to play,” de Minaur said. “I got the results yesterday. I knew what the results were yesterday. I still wanted to wake up today hoping that I would feel some sort of miracle and not feel it while I’m walking.
“The problem with me going out and playing is that one stretch, one slide, one anything, can make this injury (recovery) go from three to six weeks to four months,” de Minaur said. “It’s too much to risk.”
–Field Level Media
